Benjamin Eric Woolf (September 15, 1980 – February 23, 2015) was an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles in ''

American Horror Story ''American Horror Story'' (''AHS'') is an American horror film, horror anthology series, anthology television series created by Ryan Murphy (producer), Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk for the Cable television, cable network FX (TV channel), FX. Th ...

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and fourth seasons, in which he played Infantata and Meep, respectively. He was also a pre-school teacher.

Early life

Born September 15, 1980,

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule municipality in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The population was 169,810 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, an i ...

, in the United States, to parents Nicholas Woolf and author Marcy Luikart, Woolf grew up in

Fairfield, Iowa Fairfield is a city in, and the county seat of, Jefferson County, Iowa, United States. It has a population of 9,416 people, according to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The median family income is $46,138, with 10% of families belo ...

. He moved with his family to Santa Barbara in 1999 where he was an active league pool player, improv theater performer, and karaoke enthusiast. He earned a degree in Early Childhood Education at City College, teaching in the Head Start program in Goleta until 2010, when he moved to Hollywood to pursue his dream of being an actor.

Career

In 2002, Woolf began his acting career in his musical film debut "Tap". Woolf was featured in '' Dead Kansas'', '' Insidious'', ''Haunting Charles Manson'', and ''Woggie''. However, Woolf was perhaps best known for his role as The Infantata and Meep on the television series ''

''. Of his love of pre-school teaching, Woolf said, "when you're with children, you kind of live in a different world that doesn't have any rules. It's more imagination."

Personal life

Woolf was diagnosed with

pituitary dwarfism Growth hormone deficiency (GHD), or hyposomatotropism, is a medical condition resulting from not enough growth hormone (GH). Generally the most noticeable symptom is that an individual attains a short height. Newborns may also present low blood su ...

at an early age. He stood at as an adult.

Honors

Two weeks before he died Woolf was honored in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

for his contributions to the

horror genre Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defin ...

at the Russian Horror Film Awards.

Death

Woolf died February 23, 2015, at age 34 from a stroke resulting from a head injury he received in a traffic accident while crossing the road. He was struck by the side-view mirror of a passing car in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Woolf later died at

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, Tertiary referral hospital, tertiary, 915-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre, academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars ...

located in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woolf, Ben 1980 births 2015 deaths 21st-century American male actors American male television actors American male film actors Actors from Fort Collins, Colorado Actors with dwarfism American actors with disabilities Male actors from Colorado Road incident deaths in California